help with large homemade splitter!

[jewelerjake]

Yes. I did notice the valve screaming. I didn't know that it had a relief. Until I posted here, I didn't know there was a relief. Galvanized fitting dangerous? Had no idea. Thanks.

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[jewelerjake]

Had to laugh when I saw the Titanic statement. Pretty funny. I thought the same thing when I saw it, but there it sits.

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[muddstopper]

Before doing anything that could cause a pressure increase, I would certainly get rid of all that galvanized pipe. That long nipple is connected to the side of the cyl, (the push side), that would see the most pressure as the cyl extend. Its probably not rated for over 600psi and will most likely split and spray oil everywhere if you do manage to build any pressure. I suggest cleaning up the mess of plumbing before doing anything else.

The acorn nut on your control valve is where your relief is located. You can remove the nut and loosen the lock nut and then just turn the exposed screw in to raise pressure. The screw will either have a screw driver slot or a hex slot for a allen wrench. Only do this after you fix the plumbing. I know it is tempting to try adjusting the pressure before you fix the plumbing, but high pressure hyd fluid against the exposed skin of your hand or arm could cause serious injury or even death. You have been warned.

In the picture of the back of your pump, the raised flat spot between the two top bolts is where you should find the model and identification numbers to tell you what pump you have. The patent numbers on the end cap dont tell me anything.

In your bottom picture, you can see the arrow on the side of the pump. This indicates the direction the pump should turn to work properly. Best I can tell from your pic, the arrow is pointed up which would indicate the pump would turn counter clockwise as viewed from the shaft end. Since i cant see the engine i cant tell which way it is mounted. Just make sure the pump shaft is turning the same direction as the arrow on the side of the pump. If by chance you are turning the pump the wrong direction, the simplest fix would be to change the direction that the pump would work. All you would need to do would be remove the 4 bolts on the endcap and slip the center section, (The complete center section, not just the housing), off the pump and turn it around, reinstall and bolt the endcap back on. Just be careful and dont let parts, ( the little vanes), fall out or you will be cleaning and scratching your head as you put the vanes back in. The center section should slide off in one piece, but it can come apart in pieces.

 

[muddstopper]

That's what I said, just the Cliff Note version. Takes a long time to type on a phone, the keyboard is only big enough for 1 finger.

I went to school for it heavy equipment repair, part if that was learnin' them there "hydraulicks". Not that I'm an ex-spurt, but I've got an idear or 3.

You cant run the amount of equipment you have without knowing at least a little bit about how it works, so I assumed you do know. I am not any kind of expert either, like you I have worked around a lot of specialized hydraulic controlled equipment for over 40 years. Sometimes its only after you have broke enough stuff and had to fix it, that you start to figure a few things out. I have broke my fair share of equipment. If it has a weak spot, I can usually find it. At that I might be considered and expert.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

I agree with muddstopper on the fittings. big no no on the pressure side. Only thing I would say is to try to get it to cycle using what you have set up with NO LOAD. Meaning, see if you can get it to cycle decent and working without loading it up with wood and bottoming out. No need in my mind to buy all those fittings and find it still will not function as wanted. muddstopper, would you agree? just stand clear and you can throw towels over junctions to save a bath

 

[cantoo]

I agree with Kevin, just do minimal plumbing so you can move one cylinder before you invest more money. I think I would even just disconnect hoses and shoot it into a pail to see if it even moves more.

 

[muddstopper]

To be honest, I dont see any reason why it cant be made to work. I feel he most likely has the relief not adjusted right, and it is possible he is turning the pump in the wrong direction. Just because it isnt the normal configuration you see on a wood splitter doesnt mean its to complicated to work on, or be to costly to fix. Just using the pictures for reference, I dont think he will ever get any speed out of the pump he has. The center section looks to be pretty small and I am guessing it probably isnt over 6 or 8 gpm, and maybe not even that big. I have one of those old Titanic" pumps that is only rated for 2gpm, and another rated for 4gpm. It is possible one of his cyl could be bad, but he has been given enough information to check them with zero cost. Adjusting the relief is also zero cost, and checking pump rotation cost zero as well. If any one of those things increases pressure, That one long nipple is going to burst and when you look at where his hand is going to be positioned, he is in danger of having high pressure hydraulic oil sprayed into his skin. He has admitted he can hear the pump squeal, turning the pump backwards will cause a loud squeal, as will oil dumping over the relief, or the pump sucking air if there isnt enough oil in the tank, or his turning the pump at 3600rpms as he also mentioned, when the pump probably isnt designed for it. I wouldnt scrap the splitter as has been mentioned, but I probably would scrap the pump and get myself a two stage pump to increase speed. I would also scrap the galvanized pipe and get myself something rated for high pressure. Personally, I wouldnt even mess with it until I had those two things ready to bolt up. IF he wants to do all his checking before buying the pump he really needs, I would at least do as suggested and wrap some rags around the nipple to control the oil I know is going to spray when the pump hits high pressure.

PIPE FITTINGS — Class 150 Black Malleable Iron and Galvanized pipe fi ttings are rated by pressure class. Class 150 is rated at 150 psi for saturated steam pressure which has a maximum rating of 300 psi WOG (Water Oil Gas) @ 150oF. Black malleable pipe fi ttings are interchangeable with black castiron or steel. Galvanized fi ttings resist rust and corrosion. USES: Low-pressure plumbing applications including air, water, natural gas and steam

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Schedule 40 is rated to about 2000psi, schedule 80 about 3000. Now that is factoring something like a 5 to 1 safety factor. (ie, it can truly handle 5 times that)

Where is 600psi coming from?
I've never heard of class 150,black pipe/galvanized is normally A53 or A106, 53 the most common.

I wouldn't use galvee pipe because the zinc can flake off and go through the system (same reason not to use it on fuel or air lines)

Now that being said, I'd remove about 1/2 those fittings, they aren't needed like that.

Why scrap it? The drame looks solid enough. If the cylinders are in bad shape repack them or replace, put a $150 Horrinble Freight engine, $150 pump and redo the plumbing.

 

[muddstopper]

http://www.tmcinc.org/assets/pdf_products/fittings

A 1inch schedule 40, A53 is rated for 1550psi, but at the threads its rated for only 650psi. the bigger the pipe, the less pressure rating it will have, but in all material, the thread rateing will always be less than the rest of the pipe.